Ribbon Wall-hang

I was going through my iPhoto library and came upon the picture of a craft I had done a year or so ago.  This is great way to hang lots of pictures, kids colorings, homework assignments, etc on display without taking up tons of wall space. I ended up putting my niece's artwork and artwork from other kids I babysat.

For this project, I used ribbon from gifts I had gotten here or there... mostly from my wedding. I cut them all about the same length and lined them up how I liked it. Then I took a wooden dowel (available at any craft store) and spray painted it black. I used glue dots to get the ribbon on there, but the ribbons came off after a few months, so I recommend hot glue. Be careful not to burn yourself, because the ribbon can be very thin. I found little painted wooden clothespins at Roberts (now closed in my area.) These were very cheap, and a few have fallen apart. Not recommended if your kid will be doing most of the pinning. I've seen colored plastic ones that seem to work better, and I think you can get them from Wal-mart.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Honey-Can-Do-Plastic-Clothespins/17434844?findingMethod=rr

Storing Ball Caps

Originally posted 12/21/11

I finally figured out how to store baseball caps without them getting squished. Yippee! I used Command Strip hooks above my closet.

Butterfly themes

Originally posted 8/5/11

I think I want to do a bedroom or a home library room in blue butterflies (in my future house). I could paint an accent wall blue, do a butterfly wallpaper, and have butterfly wall decals. These are some of the butterfly designs I like, of which i found online... the first picture is the wall decals, fyi.

I bought some fabric a while ago for my living room drapes, but while I was at Hancock fabrics, I found these butterfly ones I liked a lot. The dark blue one is really my favorite out of everything.

I ended up making them into small tablecloths.

New Living-room Curtains

Originally posted 8/2/11 on a different blog

Dave and I decided we wanted curtains in our living room after we re-arranged it. The sun came though the blinds, and shined lines on the TV, which is annoying when you're watching a movie. So, we went to Hancock fabrics during their 50% off sale, and bought full price fabric.

My mom helped us sew it and this is how it turned out! I like it.
Our wall is actually "almond" color, a beige peach is more like it, but it looks bright yellow in this picture, for some reason.

I did a 2 inch ruffle on top, then a 3 inch hole for the rod to go through. The hem is about 2 inches, but I meant it to be 4 inches... I just didn't measure enough fabric out the first time. You have to add a couple inches to make up for stitching quarter inch edges, so it doesn't fray.
This was one of the first sewing projects i've done where i was mostly in charge... and completely without a pattern. :P

These curtains, we later realized, also helped insulate our apartment and saved us a bit on the utility bill. Definitely a nice side effect. 

New Bathroom

Originally posted on 7/28/2011 on a different blog.

In my apartment, we painted the bathroom, took down a cabinet, and put up shelving. Here are the before-ish and after pictures....

The green was painted on really sloppy, even onto the edges of knobs, outlets, and hookups. We made sure to tape up the edges very tightly and even did some touch ups here and there where we missed - especially where we got the ceiling. The baseboards we went over with white paint as well, and caulked in the crack between the baseboard and the floor.

We got the shelving from Home Depot and had them cut it the right size - 6ft long and 18 inches deep. 

The cool thing, is that this tan color on the wall brought all the random brown tile patterns together, namely the floor, the shower tile, and the linoleum on the wall above the shower. The only thing that doesn't match is the sink. :P